In the early 1900s, community hospitals were built to accommodate the difficulty and high expense of travel, according to the article. Later, the increase in Medicare and Medicaid patients led to higher demands of patient services.
Now that travel is less of an issue, patients can afford to visit hospitals that may be a bit further away, Dr. Pearl argued. He added that consolidating hospitals can reduce administrative costs while increasing volume and experience, thereby improving the quality of care and keeping healthcare costs low. Additionally, higher transparency, reference pricing and centers of excellence programs can help stymie fears of an increase in market power from the consolidated hospitals, said Dr. Pearl.
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